Cinnabar: The mercury mineral cinnabar: information and pictures USES Cinnabar is the most common mercury mineral and is the chief ore of that metal . It is mined extensively for the production of mercury. Aesthetic crystals of Cinnabar, especially those from China, are very popular among mineral collectors. Cinnabar has been historically used as a vermilion pigment. NOTEWORTHY LOCALITIES The finest Cinnabar crystals in the form of intensely-red bright transparent crystals come from China at Tongren, Guizhou Province, at the specific deposits of Wanshan, Yanwuping, and Yunchangping. Similar crystals occur nearby at the Chatian mine near Fenghuang, Xiangxi, Hunan Province. Almaden, Ciudad Real, Spain, is probably the most historic (as well as one of the most important) localities for Cinnabar. Specimens from that locality usually massive , but crystals have also been found, and it has also produced specimens in association with small Native Mercury blobs.

Other important deposits include Idria, Slovenia; Rudňany, Slovakia; Nikitovka (Horlivka), Donets'ka Oblast, Ukraine; and Chauvai, Alai Range, Kyrgyzstan. In Mexico, a classic locality is Charcas, San Luis Potosí. The U.S. also contains several important deposits, most notably in the mercury-producing districts of California and Nevada. California deposits include the New Almaden District, Santa Clara Co.; and New Idria and Mount Diablo, Diablo Range, San Benito / Contra Costa Counties. Nevada deposits include the Cahill Mine, Poverty Peak, Humboldt Co.; and Antelope Springs, Pershing Co. Other occurences include Terlingua, Brewster Co., Texas; and Kirby, Pike Co., Arkansas. MERCURY MINING | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Site MERCURY MINING MERCURY MINING. Texas has considerable quantities of ore from which mercury may be produced. Historically, several distinct uses made the metal so indispensable in time of war that a belligerent without it was at the mercy of one with ample supplies.

Possession or control of quicksilver resources was greatly desired by all nations, but it was obtainable in quantity in only a few. More recently, mercury has been used in electrical apparatus, dental preparations, fungicides, bactericides, and industrial instruments. In Texas all mercury mining has been done about ninety miles south of Alpine in Brewster and Presidio counties. The producing area, known as the Terlingua District, is the third-largest mercury-producing area in the United States. Mercury mining is done by sinking shafts and running drifts. Historically, the miners were mostly men of mixed Mexican and Indian blood who worked under technical supervision. Until World War II hand drilling and mucking as well as outmoded methods of refining ore were used; operators converted to modern methods to meet war requirements and high labor costs. Cinnabar, the brilliant red ore of mercury, was discovered and first worked in Texas by Indians, who probably used it as war paint and certainly used it in the paintings still to be seen on the rocks and bluffs of West Texas. In these paintings the deep red of cinnabar still shows brightly among the fading colors produced by other pigments.

Cinnabar was probably an article of commerce among the Plains Indians, for Ferdinand von Roemer , who traversed the Comanche country in 1840, mentions trading a lasso for a small quantity. The first mention of the discovery of mercury by white men states that a sample was taken to Alpine, Texas, for identification in 1884. This event led to prospecting and additional discoveries, and the first flask of mercury was produced in 1886. (A "flask" of mercury is seventy-six pounds.) Desultory prospecting and production continued until 1898, when mining was started by what later became the Marfa and Mariposa Mining Company. By 1900 the company had produced about a thousand flasks by means of retorts. The Big Bend and Texas Almaden at Study Butte and the Chisos Mining Company at Terlingua began production in 1903, and the Chisos Company operated continuously for the next forty years. The Mariscal Mine near Hot Springs operated intermittently from 1916 to 1942. This property adjoined the Chisos mine, and both closed at the same time for lack of ore.

The Fresno Mines at Buena Suerte began production in 1940; the discovery of the ore body there extended the Terlingua District approximately seven miles westward. The lode was the first paying deposit opened in forty years. Numerous small properties operated when the price of mercury was above normal. During both world wars, under the stimulus of patriotic endeavor and the inducement of high prices, the United States led in quicksilver production. From 1939 to 1945 at least five mines were active, but with the end of World War II supplies from war-impoverished countries, principally Spain, were dumped into world markets and created such an oversupply in the United States that Texas mines were abandoned by 1946. After the war Spain and Italy produced 70 percent of the world supplies, and this country produced 20 percent. No reliable records of mercury production in Texas before 1919 are extant. Production from 1919 to 1941 inclusive was 55,081 flasks. The Chisos Mining Company produced 39,094 flasks; the Rainbow Mine produced 8,087 flasks.

The Big Bend and Texas Almaden produced 4,554 and 417 flasks, respectively. The Mariscal Mine produced 484 flasks from 1919 to 1923, and the Fresno Mines produced 540 flasks by the close of 1941. Nine other mines produced 1,905 flasks during the twenty-two years. In 1954 the federal government's price guarantee of $225 per flask and increased national consumption of mercury stimulated further recovery of mercury from cinnabar deposits around Terlingua, and the following year two Texas mines produced mercury for the open market. From 1955 to 1957 private interests and a company under federal contract conducted drilling operations without much success, while the establishment of thirty-ton rotary furnaces at Lone Star Mercury operations in 1956 made little difference in production. Texas-produced mercury continued to be insignificant, and in 1960 Texas and Arizona had a combined production of only 128 flasks out of the nation's total of 33,233.

Mercury consumption in the United States reached 78,000 flasks in 1963, the highest in history, and the following year, mercury sold for the highest price in many years, $265 per flask. A 1963 Bureau of Mines survey of potential mercury resources, based on 1961 technology and production costs, indicated that the Texas mercury potential equaled 17,500 flasks. Diamond Shamrock Chemical Company, known as Diamond Alkali before its merger with Shamrock, leased mercury mineral rights on 28,000 acres near Terlingua and Study Butte in 1964. A price rise in mercury to $775 a flask led to considerable exploration and development by the company in 1965, and in that year Texas produced a small quantity of mercury, the first in nearly five years. Diamond Shamrock began expansion of its Study Butte facilities in 1967 with the addition of a mercury furnace and processing plant with a capacity of 100 tons of cinnabar ore a day.

Most of the mercury recovered by the company went into the production of chlorine and caustic soda at its Deer Park plant near Houston. In 1969 the Study Butte mine produced 1,000 flasks of mercury, but by early in 1970 the mine was shut down until July, when Mineral Industries, Incorporated, purchased the property from Diamond Shamrock and reopened the mine. Later that year the Anchor Company began development of a new mine in Presidio County, known as the Whit-Roy, where about 138 tons of ore was mined and construction begun on a furnace and retort. In the early 1970s the Texas Mercury Company reopened the old Lone Star Mine, and production was reported from the old Fresno mining area and other properties in the district. By 1971, however, because of decreased demand for mercury, the mines in the Terlingua area were again shut down. No further production has been reported since 1973. See also MINERAL RESOURCES AND MINING , and TERLINGUA, TEXAS. BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. F. Hillebrand and W. T.

Schaller, Mercury Minerals from Terlingua, Texas (Washington: GPO, 1909). Kenneth B. Ragsdale, Quicksilver: Terlingua and the Chisos Mining Company (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1976). Texas Business Review, August 1964, September 1964. Texas Industrial Expansion (Bureau of Business Research, Graduate School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, 1968). U.S. Bureau of Mines, Minerals Yearbook. University of Texas, Texas Looks Ahead: The Resources of Texas (Austin, 1944; rpt., Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1968). W. D. Burcham and Harris S. Smith Image Use Disclaimer All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 related to Copyright and “Fair Use” for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public.

The TSHA makes every effort to conform to the principles of fair use and to comply with copyright law. For more information go to: If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Citation The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article. Handbook of Texas Online, W. D. Burcham and Harris S. Smith, "Mercury Mining," accessed December 29, 2016, . Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. mercury processing | Britannica.com Mercury processing Mercury processing, preparation of the ore for use in various products. Mercury in the bulb of a thermometer. CambridgeBayWeather Mercury (Hg) has a unique combination of physical properties.

Its low melting point (−38.87 °C [−38 °F]) and boiling point (356.9 °C [674 °F]), high specific gravity (13.5 grams per cubic centimetre), uniform volume expansion over the entire range of temperatures in its liquid state, and high surface tension (so that it does not wet glass) make it useful for the measurement of temperature in thermometers and of pressure in barometers and manometers. In addition, the high electrical conductivity of liquid mercury has led to its use in sealed electric switches and relays, industrial power rectifiers, fluorescent and mercury-vapour lamps, mercury cell batteries, and as moving cathodes in the large-scale production of chlorine and caustic soda. Because mercury is highly toxic, care must be exercised in its handling and transport. By limiting exposure to mercury metal, vapours, and compounds through such preventive measures as proper ventilation, plant cleanliness and personal hygiene, industrial plants can be made relatively safe from the dangers of mercury poisoning. History The recovery and uses of mercury, also known as quicksilver, have been described since antiquity.

Its use in the early 2nd millennium bce in Egypt has been implied but not authenticated, as the use of synonyms in ancient writings obscures the meaning of some writers, but the mining and concentrating of cinnabar, the most common ore of mercury, were certainly described in the 4th century bce. Alchemists in China were believed to have used mercury in trying to convert base metals to gold as early as the 2nd century bce, and the Roman writer Pliny the Elder wrote in the 1st century about the recovery of quicksilver by distillation and condensation, the forerunner of modern methods of metallurgical treatment. Pliny also described the trade in mercury and cinnabar between Spain and Rome. Similar Topics nickel processing Because mercury was credited in folklore with the power to ward off evil spirits and cure various ailments, it acquired various therapeutic and agricultural uses. By the 16th century, crude furnaces for treating cinnabar by distillation and condensation were meeting the growing demand for quicksilver in medicine and in the amalgamation of gold and silver ores.

Beginning in the 17th century, advancing science and technology brought a continuous increase in demand for mercury for use in thermometers, barometers, and electrical and chemical applications. In the early mining and furnacing of cinnabar and mercury, workers showed the symptoms of mercury poisoning, but little was known of the cause and treatment. As operators learned to reduce the escape of gases by improving furnaces and condensers and to promote personal hygiene, the incidence of poisoning declined. Throughout history, cinnabar has been used as a pigment or colouring because of its attractive red colour, and in the 19th century some American Indians in California complained of illness that was diagnosed as mercury poisoning caused by cinnabar in war paint. Little was known about the release of mercury into the environment by the chemical, electrical, and battery industries until the 20th century, when the medical profession and government agencies began to evaluate plants and operations. Thereafter, regulations reducing plant emissions improved the environment in and around these operations. Ores There are more than 25 known minerals containing mercury, but the principal ore mineral is cinnabar, a soft, red to reddish brown mercury sulfide. Some cinnabar deposits may also contain elemental mercury.

The mineral has been found in all continents except Antarctica. It occurs in all types and ages of rock, usually alone but sometimes in association with antimony, gold, iron, and zinc. Scientists Ponder Menopause in Killer Whales Because most cinnabar as mined contains less than 1 percent mercury, various mineral-processing methods, such as jigging, shaking, screening, elutriation, and flotation, have been practiced to concentrate the ore. Flotation separation by the usual procedures for sulfide ores has had some success in the United States , but, because cinnabar is soft and friable, crushing and grinding the ore to reduce it to a size small enough to liberate the mineral may cause significant losses as slimes in the flotation tank. Although various methods are effective in producing higher-grade concentrates of cinnabar for furnacing, they cannot compete economically with the direct furnacing of the ore either as mined or after preliminary sorting by hand. A growing source of mercury in the United States is as a by-product of large, low-grade gold mining operations. Extraction and refining Pyrometallurgy The pyrometallurgical extraction of mercury from its ore is essentially a distillation process.

When heat is applied to the sulfide ore in the presence of air, oxygen combines with the sulfur to form sulfur dioxide, and the metal is liberated at a temperature above its boiling point. The gases are then passed through a series of U-shaped tubes to condense the mercury vapour to the liquid phase. Various vertical furnaces have been used to extract quicksilver since the earliest known crude furnaces were used at the Almadén Mine in Spain in the 12th century. The most common furnace in use in Europe is the Cermak-Spirek shaft furnace, which can treat either coarse feed (at least 4 centimetres, or 1.5 inches) or (with modification) finer material. The furnace can also accept different grades of ore. The ore is mixed with charcoal or coke fuel and charged to the top of the furnace. Combustion of fuel by a blast of hot air at the bottom produces hot gases, which, at about 300 °C (570 °F), pass upward through the falling ore and vaporize the liberated mercury.

The heat generated by this oxidation-reduction reaction raises the temperature of the incoming air for yet more efficient combustion, and hot gases at the top of the furnace, where the temperature reaches 700 °C (1,300 °F), dry the freshly charged rock and coke. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Retorts are used for mercury extraction in small mining operations or to burn soot collected in the condensing tubes of large furnaces. Retorts are cheap to install, but they are more costly to operate than furnaces because the material in such batch operations must be manually charged and removed. In the United States, rotary and multiple-hearth furnaces have been widely used, offering the advantage over other furnaces of higher capacity and continuous operation. Mechanical feeding and discharge reduces exposure to mercury vapours, sulfur dioxide fumes, and dust and lowers labour costs as well. Hydrometallurgy Mercury can be leached from ores and concentrates with a solution of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. It can then be recovered by precipitation with aluminum or by electrolysis. Leaching is more costly than furnacing and is not effective on ores of irregular composition .

Secondary mercury Significant quantities of mercury have been reclaimed from dental amalgams, oxide and acetate sludges, and battery scrap. Virtually all the metal can be recovered from scrapped mercury cells, mercury boilers, electrical apparatuses, and control instruments. Refining Metal produced by furnacing is known as prime virgin mercury (having a purity of more than 99.9 percent) and is bright and clean in appearance. This grade is suitable for most uses. When required, impurities can be removed by multiple distillation, usually in retort-type furnaces. The metal and its alloys Mercury is packaged in cast-iron, wrought-iron, or spun-steel bottles or flasks 10 to 18 centimetres (4 to 7 inches) in diameter and about 30 centimetres high. The net weight of one flask of mercury is 34.5 kilogram (76 pounds), the commercial unit of world trade. Electrical uses One of the greatest uses of mercury has been as a moving cathode that settles at the bottom of electrolytic cells in the production of chlorine and caustic soda.

During the electrolysis of brine, liberated sodium amalgamates with the mercury cathode and then reacts with water to form sodium hydroxide. (Chlorine is generated at the anode.) Losses of mercury in the brine sludge, wash water, and caustic soda have caused a decline of this application in favour of other processes that do not use mercury. Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Dry-cell batteries are a large consumer of mercury. Mercury batteries can be operated at high temperatures and humidity, have long life spans, and deliver the same ampere-hours of service at their rated current ranges whether operated continuously or intermittently. The major applications of these batteries have been for hearing aids, photography, and military equipment. Other electrical applications included rectifier bulbs, oscillators, and power control switches. Mercury-vapour lamps have been used in industrial floodlighting, street lighting, motion-picture projection, photography, and heat therapy. Metallurgical uses Frozen mercury has been used for the precision casting of complex or intricate parts. After casting, the mercury mold can easily be removed by melting without damaging the cast product.

Mercury amalgamates, or mixes, readily with many metals. Amalgams of mercury, silver, and tin have been the most successful material for repairing dental cavities. Gold and silver have long been recovered by the amalgamation process, and amalgams of sodium and potassium have been used as reducing agents. Chemical compounds Compounds of mercury have many uses in pharmacology, in chemical-process industries, and in agriculture. Bichloride of mercury, mercurochrome, and ointments of metallic mercury, yellow mercuric oxide, and ammoniated mercuric chloride have served as skin antiseptics. Mercurous chloride, or calomel, is employed as a diuretic and cathartic . Organic mercury compounds, particularly phenylmercury acetate, are used as agricultural fungicides for treating seeds, spraying fruit trees, and controlling weed growth. In paint manufacture, these compounds are used in the mildew proofing of paints. Mercuric chloride or mercuric sulfate is utilized as a catalyst in converting acetylene into vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate, and acetaldehyde. Other uses as catalysts are in the production of methyl styrene and glacial acetic acid.

Mercury fulminate, resulting from a reaction of alcohol and mercuric nitrate, explodes on impact and is used in percussion caps and detonators for other explosives. Cinnabar A mineral is a naturally occuring, homogeneous, solid with a crystalline atomic structure. Crystallinity implies that a mineral has a definite and limited range of composition, and that the composition is expressible as a chemical formula. Some definitions of minerals give them as inorganic materials, however both diamonds and graphite are considered minerals, and both are primarily comprised of carbon, which would make them organic. So this leads me, as an engineer, to believe that mineralogists do not have a good, precise definition of a mineral, but rather a loose definition. The definition above, is the most inclusive and would include all substances currently described as minerals. The key items that make something a mineral are occurring naturally, and the definite crystal structure, that is expressible as a chemical formula. Rocks that do not meet this criteria are referred to as amorphis - not having a definite structure or expressible as a chemical formula. Some elements that occur naturally and are minerals are arsenic, bismuth, platinum, gold, silver, copper, and sulphur.

THE DEFINITION OF ORGANIC: Organic chemistry is the study of those substances containing carbon in combination with hydrogen (H), and a few other non metals, namely oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), sulfur (S) and the halogens (F2, Cl2, Br2, and I2). This specemin of Cinnabar Ore is from Nevada. The white crystals are probably Dolomite. Crystal forms of cinnabar are relatively rare. This is the more common ore of cinnabar, also from nevada. Cinnabar is a major ore for the production of Mercury. Historically, it has been mined as far back as early Roman times, for mercury. Cinnabar contains as much as 86% Mercury. Mercury is the only common metal that is liquid at room temperature. It occurs either as native metal or in cinnabar, corderoite, livingstonite, and other minerals. Mercury has uniform volumetric thermal expansion, good electrical conductivity, and easily forms amalgams with almost all common metals except iron.

Most mercury is used for the manufacture of industrial chemicals and for electrical and electronic applications.* *Source - USGS Mercury Production Cinnabar, a Mercury Sulfide, is the principal mineral of mercury. These minerals occur in veins, wide dissemination of irregular, sporadic mineralization without any pattern. Mercury is easy to recover from Cinnabar. Ore is crushed to typically 1" to 2" in size then sent to a kiln. Simply heating the ore in a kiln to 1,100 Deg. F, all of the mercury will vaporize into the kiln (mercury vaporizes at 675 deg F). The kiln vapors then must be condensed, by cooling, to recover the mercury, which becomes liquid at temperatures below 675 deg F and freezes solid at 2.8 Deg. F. Some free mercury in the ore can be recovered on Deister wet gravity concentration tables, also. Typical minerals found with cinnabar include silica, calcite, pyrite, marcasite and bitumen. These minerals often comprise the waste material in a mercury mine.

Cinnabar rare mineral specimens Color: Scarlet red, towards brownish red and lead-gray Cleavage: perfect in three directions Transparency: translucent to transparent Associated Minerals: barite, calcite, chalcedony, dolomite, marcasite, opal, pyrite, quartz, realgar, and stibnite DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: Cinnabar is a bright red mineral consisting of mercury and sulfur. It provides most of the world's supply of mercury. It is a colorful mineral that will add a unique color to any mineral collectors case. Cinnabar or Mercury Sulfide is quite often recognized by its deep red coloring. The tone of the red crystals depends on the purity of the mineral. If it is pure, the color is a vermilion red. If it is impure, the color is more of a brownish red, cinnamon red to brick red. Found mostly near the earth's surface, close to volcanic rocks and hot springs it usually occurs in earthy masses or scattered in opal. Well shaped crystals are uncommon. Crusts and crystal complexes are more common. Cinnabar's crystals are characteristic of a distinctive form of twinning.

Cinnabar forms a penetration twin that is ridged with six ridges surrounding the point of a pyramid. Somewhat like two scalahedral crystals grown together with one crystal going the opposite way of the other crystal. Other forms include, massive, capillary needles or modified rhombohedrons. Cinnabar shares the same symmetry class with quartz but the two, form different crystal habits. Cinnabar is one of the few sulfides that can be transparent. Others that come to mind are sphalerite, realgar, and orpiment. ENVIRONMENT: Since Mercury is a liquid, it is rarely found in a native state. Although it is the only mineral aside from Water found in a liquid state, it is never found in "pools". It only occurs as tiny blobs on top of the mercury ores Cinnabar and Calomel. The tiny blobs are lodged in small crevices or pores, or they just stick to the associating mineral. The blobs do not roll around or fall off the associating mineral, but stay in a single place unless they are tampered with. CRYSTAL DESCRIPTION: Mercury lacks a crystal structure and is thus not really a mineral but a mineraloid.

One of the scientifically accepted standards defining a mineral is that a mineral must have a crystal structure, which Mercury lacks. Although many scientific groups and references, categorize Mercury together with the "true" minerals. Mercury freezes at -38º F and is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature. LOCALITIES: The most recent and exciting availability of Cinnabar specimens has come from Hunan Provence,China. Hunan Province of China has produced large, gemlike crystals since the early 1980's. Some very nice material is coming from this region. Beware though, some of the first specimens to come out were carefully prepared fakes. With large twinned cinnabar crystals glued onto quartz or dolomite matrix's. In addition to Hunan Provence, China. Deposits occur in Italy, Slovenia, Idria, Serbia; and Almaden, Spain. Just to mention a few. In the US California had several locations such as. Culver Bear Mine and Socrates Mine, Sonoma Co.; Idria, San Benito Co. and the Almaden and New Almaden mines in Santa Clara Co.

Other mines include Nevada's Cahill Mine, Humboldt County; Weiser Idaho;Terlingua, Texas; The famous Red Devil Mine near Sleetmute, Alaska. There were also mines in Oregon and Arkansas. USES: Ore of mercury & pigments When mercury combines with any of the true metals (excluding platinum and iron), the result is an amalgam. (There is a mineral known as "Amalgam", which is a mixture of silver and mercury (Ag,Hg), but the common term of amalgam denotes a mixture of mercury and any other metal.) Amalgams are used to extract precious metals from their ore FACTS & HISTORY: The word 'cinnabar' comes from the Persian for 'dragon's blood'. Cinnabar was mined by the Roman Empire for its mercury content and it has been the main ore of mercury throughout the centuries. Some mines used by the Romans are still being mined today. Like the mines at Almaden, Spain. Cinnabar has been mined for more than 2,500 years at Almaden, Spain, which has been the world's most important deposit. A couple of decades ago, mercury was discovered to be very toxic for any sort of contact with the human skin.

So it has not been as commonly used as it once was. Its more common uses before this discovery were for electrical apparatuses, industrial control instruments, mildew proofing of paint, and preparation of chlorine and caustic soda. It is still used and mined today, but with a great amount of protection and caution. Vermilion is the standard name in England and the United States given to the red artists' pigment based on artificially made mercuric sulfide. Artificial cinnabar was manufactured very early on. Geber (Jabir), the eighth- to ninth-century Arabic alchemist mentions a red compound formed by the union of sulfur and mercury. The pigment has been known in China since prehistoric times and an example would be the famous Chinese Cinnabar lacquer beads. Cinnabar Cinnabar > Cinnabar Lacquered art pieces have been produced in China for many centuries. Lacquer is produced from the sap of the lac tree, which is commonly found in central and southern China. Various pigments are added to the resulting lacquer to change its color, and then the lacquer is applied in many coats to an art object.

After many coats, the lacquer is carved, producing unique designs, patterns, and subjects. On lacquer, which was prominent throughout China, was cinnabar lacquer, which was made by mixing a seemingly innocuous mineral called cinnabar with lacquer. Cinnabar lacquer was used on a wide variety of pieces ranging in size from jewelry pieces to large ceramic or metal vases. Cinnabar lacquerware Lacquered ware is an ancient Chinese art dated back to the Neolithic age. Lacquer is produced from the sap of the Chinese lacquer tree, which is commonly found in central and southern China. Mineral pigments such as cinnabar or iron oxide are added to the lacquer for the change of color. Many successive layers of lacquer will then be applied to a base structure which is made from copper or wood. Each layer of lacquer must dry before the next application of lacquer so the process may repeat at least 30 times until the necessary thickness for carving is met. Thus the whole process may take months. Black lacquer was used as early as the Neolithic time while cinnabar pigmented lacquer dated back to the Han Dynasty (about 300 B.C.).

Red quickly became the preferred color for lacquerware carvings because the color is associated with good fortune in China. However, the cinnabar, a form of mercury sulfide used to dye the lacquer, is toxic. At present, this toxic cinnabar is replaced by a resin-based polymer but items are still sold under the name "cinnabar". Cinnabar lacquerwares are good decorative items at home. The RED color means HAPPINESS and GOOD LUCK. Sort By: Shipped from our Hong Kong Store $59.95 Shipped from our Hong Kong Store $329.95 Qty: Cinnabar is a mineral that appears near volcanoes or hot springs. It is rich in mercury and, when ground into a fine powder, produces a deep red tint. It was believed at one point that the mercury's toxic effects could be neutralized with heat, but it appears that science has proven this theory incorrect. However, Cinnabar lacquer was produced and carved for many years before the toxic effects of mercury were discovered. The production of a cinnabar lacquer piece is a fascinating and time consuming process. First, the base work was produced, whether it was a vase or a brooch.

Next, layer after layer of cinnabar lacquer was applied. Often layers would alternate in color to achieve a multicolor effect in the design, and some pieces would feature more than 300 coats of lacquer. Each layer would have to dry before a new one was applied, so some pieces could take almost half a year to prepare some larger pieces could take years! Once the lacquer layers had reached the correct depth, the carving process could begin. Carving a cinnabar lacquer piece was a very delicate process, and could take the artist many years to complete. Care was needed, since a slip could require filling with many new layers of lacquer or could necessitate a complete re-do of the entire project. Once the carving was finished, another layer of lacquer would be added to seal the carving. Clear lacquer with no cinnabar was often used in this final step to keep the piece from spreading mercury to the skin. this was especially important for jewelry pieces. Many cinnabar lacquer pieces are still available at auction, and are highly prized for the richness of color and intricacy of carving.

Minimizing exposure to these older pieces is essential to prevent any contamination, but pieces kept behind glass can still be a valuable part of any collection. While true cinnabar lacquer pieces are hardly ever produced today, many carvers work with simulated chemical cinnabar in their lacquer. This has allowed carved lacquer pieces to remain in production, without the harmful effects possible when working with cinnabar. :: WorstPolluted.org : Projects Reports 1.5 Million Description Mining and ore processing occurs throughout the world and consists of extracting minerals, metals, and gems from surrounding earth and ore. Industrial mines vary in size, with some being quite small operations and others very large. Many large-scale mines also have ore processing facilities where extracted ore is sent for crushing, washing, and various physical or chemical separation processes. Not all mined materials are dangerous, but many heavy metals and naturally radioactive materials that are removed from the earth can be very hazardous to human health. In addition to active mines, there are a large number of inactive and abandoned mining sites throughout the world that still contain large levels of contaminants and pose dangers to local communities. Populations estimates are preliminary and based on an ongoing global assessment of known polluted sites.

Industrial Process Elemental mercury occurs naturally in the earth and is a liquid metal. Most mercury forms in a sulfide ore called cinnabar, but mercury is also frequently found in small amounts in other ores. A common method for separating mercury from cinnabar is to crush the ore and then heat it in a furnace in order to vaporize the mercury. This vapor is then condensed into liquid mercury form. If done improperly, mercury vapor, which is highly toxic, can escape into the atmosphere. Waste rock and tailings from mercury mining, and other extraction processes where mercury is uncovered, can still contain small or large amounts of the toxic substance. Mercury that is not processed or claimed during mining and ore processing can make its way into the environment if the mining waste is not stored properly. Mercury is also extensively used in the gold mining process as an amalgam for separating gold from ore. When mercury is combined with gold silt, it causes a reaction that separates the gold from the ore. This amalgam is then heated in order to evaporate the mercury and leave the gold pieces. If done without the proper safety equipment, this process can release mercury vapor into the air and can also discharge various amounts of liquid mercury into the surrounding area.

Global Context Mercury is uncovered and used in a number of mining processes. It is mined as a primary element for use in materials such as thermometers and fluorescent light bulbs, it can be commonly found in the ore of other mined materials, and it is frequently used in the gold mining process as an amalgam for the separation of gold from ore. Thus, mercury contamination is associated with a large variety of different mining and ore processing activities throughout the world. Due to its large health risk, international negotiations are ongoing to globally ban the use of mercury in the years to come (Mercury Convention). Currently, the Blacksmith inventory estimates that over 1.5 million people are affected by mercury pollution from mining and ore processing, with most pollution problems of this nature occurring in Southeast Asia and Africa. Exposure Pathways Waste rock and tailings that are created during the mining and ore refining process can release toxins into the environment if not stored or disposed of properly. In many cases, waste rock and tailings are left out in the open where they are exposed to the elements, and mercury can be washed into water systems by rainfall, or can leach into the soil.

Mercury that is used as an amalgam in gold mining can also be released into the environment as vapor and elemental mercury. When mercury enters water systems, it can bioaccumulate in the bodies of aquatic animals, where it becomes organic, or methylmercury. When ingested, methylmercury can be very hazardous to human health. Health Effects The health hazards that result from exposure to mercury depend on the level of exposure and the way in which the pollutant enters the body. Inhalation of mercury vapor is particularly hazardous for kidneys, the central nervous system, and the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. 15 Inhalation of mercury vapor has also been found to cause neurobehavioral disorders, such as hand tremor and mental retardation. Exposure to other forms of mercury – and in particular the methylmercury that accumulates in fish – can also lead to problems with the kidneys, lungs, and central nervous system, in addition to arthritis, reproductive problems, loss of memory, psychosis, and in some cases, death. Children exposed to mercury contamination have a higher risk of developmental complications. What is Being Done An important step in curbing the pollution created by mining and ore processing is to work with mines and governments to improve mining equipment and environmental regulation.

Many pollution problems occur due to a lack of set environmental and health standards, or, when laws do exist, weak enforcement and compliance procedures. However, if local governments and organizations put pressure on mines to decrease their emissions, this can be effective in terms of getting companies to institute new policies or set up new infrastructure, such as wastewater treatment facilities or more effective tailing storage areas. Example – DALY Calculations A small town in the mountains of Chile has been the site of large-scale gold and copper mining since 1891. Air pollution in this region is so severe that the government classified the town as a “Saturated Zone” – indicating the dangers of breathing the air around the mine. Samples taken around the site found 100 micrograms per cubic meter of mercury in the air, which is 100 times higher than the WHO health standard. Blacksmith estimates that 20,000 people may be affected by this pollution. DALYs associated with adverse health impacts from atmospheric mercury exposure at this site are estimated to be 716,950 for the estimated exposed population of 20,000.

This means that the approximately 20,000 affected people will have a collective 716,950 years lost to death, or impacted by disease or disability. This comes out to 28.7 years lost or lived with a disability per person. Footnotes: [15]: “Toxicological Profile for Mercury.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. March, 1999. Available at: . Top Ten Toxic Pollution Problems Color: Scarlet red, towards brownish red and lead-gray Cleavage: perfect in three directions Transparency: translucent to transparent Associated Minerals: barite, calcite, chalcedony, dolomite, marcasite, opal, pyrite, quartz, realgar, and stibnite DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: Cinnabar is a bright red mineral consisting of mercury and sulfur. It provides most of the world's supply of mercury. It is a colorful mineral that will add a unique color to any mineral collectors case. Cinnabar or Mercury Sulfide is quite often recognized by its deep red coloring. The tone of the red crystals depends on the purity of the mineral. If it is pure, the color is a vermilion red.

If it is impure, the color is more of a brownish red, cinnamon red to brick red. Found mostly near the earth's surface, close to volcanic rocks and hot springs it usually occurs in earthy masses or scattered in opal. Well shaped crystals are uncommon. Crusts and crystal complexes are more common. Cinnabar's crystals are characteristic of a distinctive form of twinning. Cinnabar forms a penetration twin that is ridged with six ridges surrounding the point of a pyramid. Somewhat like two scalahedral crystals grown together with one crystal going the opposite way of the other crystal. Other forms include, massive, capillary needles or modified rhombohedrons. Cinnabar shares the same symmetry class with quartz but the two, form different crystal habits. Cinnabar is one of the few sulfides that can be transparent. Others that come to mind are sphalerite, realgar, and orpiment. ENVIRONMENT: Since Mercury is a liquid, it is rarely found in a native state. Although it is the only mineral aside from Water found in a liquid state, it is never found in "pools". It only occurs as tiny blobs on top of the mercury ores Cinnabar and Calomel.

The tiny blobs are lodged in small crevices or pores, or they just stick to the associating mineral. The blobs do not roll around or fall off the associating mineral, but stay in a single place unless they are tampered with. CRYSTAL DESCRIPTION: Mercury lacks a crystal structure and is thus not really a mineral but a mineraloid. One of the scientifically accepted standards defining a mineral is that a mineral must have a crystal structure, which Mercury lacks. Although many scientific groups and references, categorize Mercury together with the "true" minerals. Mercury freezes at -38º F and is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature. LOCALITIES: The most recent and exciting availability of Cinnabar specimens has come from Hunan Provence,China. Hunan Province of China has produced large, gemlike crystals since the early 1980's. Some very nice material is coming from this region. Beware though, some of the first specimens to come out were carefully prepared fakes. With large twinned cinnabar crystals glued onto quartz or dolomite matrix's. In addition to Hunan Provence, China.

Deposits occur in Italy, Slovenia, Idria, Serbia; and Almaden, Spain. Just to mention a few. In the US California had several locations such as. Culver Bear Mine and Socrates Mine, Sonoma Co.; Idria, San Benito Co. and the Almaden and New Almaden mines in Santa Clara Co. Other mines include Nevada's Cahill Mine, Humboldt County; Weiser Idaho;Terlingua, Texas; The famous Red Devil Mine near Sleetmute, Alaska. There were also mines in Oregon and Arkansas. USES: Ore of mercury & pigments When mercury combines with any of the true metals (excluding platinum and iron), the result is an amalgam. (There is a mineral known as "Amalgam", which is a mixture of silver and mercury (Ag,Hg), but the common term of amalgam denotes a mixture of mercury and any other metal.) Amalgams are used to extract precious metals from their ore FACTS & HISTORY: The word 'cinnabar' comes from the Persian for 'dragon's blood'. Cinnabar was mined by the Roman Empire for its mercury content and it has been the main ore of mercury throughout the centuries.

Some mines used by the Romans are still being mined today. Like the mines at Almaden, Spain. Cinnabar has been mined for more than 2,500 years at Almaden, Spain, which has been the world's most important deposit. A couple of decades ago, mercury was discovered to be very toxic for any sort of contact with the human skin. So it has not been as commonly used as it once was. Its more common uses before this discovery were for electrical apparatuses, industrial control instruments, mildew proofing of paint, and preparation of chlorine and caustic soda. It is still used and mined today, but with a great amount of protection and caution. Vermilion is the standard name in England and the United States given to the red artists' pigment based on artificially made mercuric sulfide. Artificial cinnabar was manufactured very early on. Geber (Jabir), the eighth- to ninth-century Arabic alchemist mentions a red compound formed by the union of sulfur and mercury. The pigment has been known in China since prehistoric times and an example would be the famous Chinese Cinnabar lacquer beads.

Ore minerals Short Courses IMPORTANT ORE MINERALS Most elements need to be concentrated into amounts that can be economically mined from ore deposits (usually hundreds to thousands of times their crustal abundance). This concentration is usually accomplished by dissolution of the element by hot water (hydrothermal ore deposits - gold, silver, lead), preferential crystallization from magmas (chromite deposits or pegmatites), surface weathering and leaching (aluminum, nickel, copper), or gravity separation of minerals during erosion (gold, diamonds, titanium). In the majority of cases there are only one or two minerals that provide all of a particular element for commercial uses. Some elements in low concentrations (substituting in minor amounts for the major elements) are associated with minerals that are mined for other elements, but the shear volumes of materials that are processed result in a valuable byproduct (i e. elements associated with copper, lead, and zinc ores). Some elements are so valuable that almost any mineral containing that element in sufficient grades can be mined (gold, silver, platinum group). ELEMENTS Aluminum - The ore is mined from rocks that have been exposed to weathering in a tropical environment, bauxite.

The main ore minerals in bauxite are gibbsite, bohmeite, and diaspore. Antimony - The primary ore of antimony is it's sulfide, stibnite. Arsenic - Recovered from other metal processing streams (primarily from the sulfosalts such as tennantite etc.). Arsenopyrite is the most common arsenic mineral. The relatively low demand for arsenic as compared to the amount of arsenic mined that is associated with other metals means it can be supplied from the waste streams of other ore processing. Barium - The chief source of barium is barite with minor production of witherite. Beryllium - The major ore mineral for beryllium in the U.S. is bertrandite while worldwide the major source is from pegmatites that contain beryl. Bismuth - Primarily a byproduct of lead processing. Also found in a number of minerals such as bismuthinite and as a constituent in various sulfosalts. Boron - Chief source is playa lake deposits of borax, colemanite, kernite, ulexite. Bromine - Chief sources are brines from wells and Dead Sea.

Cadmium - Unlike many other commodities cadmium is produced as a byproduct of zinc (sphalerite) mining. Cesium - The major ore mineral is pollucite, a pegmatite mineral. Production and use of this metal is extremely small (a few thousand kilograms per year). Chlorine - Produced from the mineral halite (rock salt). Chromium - The chief source is the mineral chromite which is found in large layered intrusives and serpentine bodies. Cobalt - The primary minerals for cobalt is cobaltite. Some cobalt is also produced from weathered tropical orebodies. Columbium (see Niobium) Copper - Most copper ore bodies are mined from minerals created by weathering of the primary copper ore mineral chalcopyrite. Minerals in the enriched zone include chalcocite, bornite, djurleite. Minerals in the oxidized zones include malachite, azurite, chyrsocolla, cuprite, tenorite, native copper and brochantite. Gallium - A byproduct of zinc and alumina processing. Some primary "ore" may contain up to 200 ppm. Ga.

Germanium - A byproduct of zinc ore processing. Also a deposit in China is associated with coal. Gold - The primary mineral of gold is the native metal and electrum (a gold-silver alloy). Some tellurides are also important ore minerals such as calaverite, sylvanite, and petzite. Hafnium - Primary ore mineral is zircon. Indium - Primarily is a byproduct of zinc processing. Iodine - Initial production was from seaweed. Iodine is extracted from natural gas field brines (up to 1200 ppm iodine in the brines). Iron - Two major minerals in the production of iron are it's oxides, hematite and magnetite. These are found in preCambrian iron formations. Historically there was also production from goethite and siderite. The iron sulfides (pyrite and pyrrhotite) were not used as iron sources due to the difficulty of removing sulfur from the metals and the brittleness this sulfur caused in the metal. Lead - The primary ore mineral for lead is it's sulfide - galena. Some minor production from the past has come from secondary lead minerals - cerussite and anglesite.

Lithium - The former primary ore minerals were pegmatite deposits of spodumene, lepidolite, and petalite, amblygonite. Currently the major U. S. production is from lithium carbonate brines. Magnesium - Although magnesium is found in many minerals, only dolomite, magnesite, brucite, carnallite, and olivine are of commercial importance. Magnesium and other magnesium compounds are also produced from seawater, well and lake brines and bitterns. Manganese - The primary ores are oxides/hydroxides of manganese which include minerals such as hausmannite, pyrolusite, braunite, manganite, etc. and the carbonate, rhodochrosite. A large potential source is the deep sea manganese nodules. Mercury - The main ore is the sulfide, cinnabar. Molybdenum - The primary ore mineral is molybdenite. Nickel - The primary nickel ores are pentlandite, nickel bearing pyrrhotite and a weathering product, garnierite (a mixture of nÃ©pouite, pecoraite and willemseite).

Niobium (Columbium) - The primary ore mineral is pyrochlore with minor columbite and tantalite-columbite. Phosphorus - Main ore minerals are in the apatite group of minerals (hydroxylapatite, fluorapatite, chlorapatite). Platinum group (Platinum, Osmium, Rhodium, Ruthenium, Palladium) - The primary ores are the native elements or alloys of the various elements or arsenides such as sperrylite. They tend to occur in layered intrusives associated with chromite deposits. Potassium (potash) - The primary ore minerals are sylvite (primarily), brines, and langbeinite. Rare Earth elements (cerium, dysprosium, erbium, europium, gadolinium, holmium, lanthanium, lutetium, neodymium, praseodymium, samarium, scandium, terbium, thulium, ytterbium, yttrium) The major ore minerals containing rare earth elements are bastnasite, monazite, and loparite and the lateritic ion-adsorption clays. Major U.S.

production of bastnesite is from Mountain Pass, California. Rhenium - Produced as a byproduct of molybdenite. Rubidium - Substitutes for potassium in lepidolite and pollucite. Production is small (a few thousand kilograms per year). Scandium (see Rare Earth)

Question: Which metal is produced from the ore cinnabar?
Answer: MERCURY